15 interesting facts you didn’t know about Uganda

Feb 27, 2018 |

By our reporter

Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania.

The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. It also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate.

Here are some of the interesting facts about the country;

1. Caesarian sections were being performed in Uganda way before 1879 when R.W. Felkin observed his first successful operation by indigenous healers in Kahura. (reference: Notes on Labour in Central Africa” published in the Edinburgh Medical Journal, volume 20, April 1884, pages 922-930.)

2. There are about 880 mountain gorrillas in the whole world and half of them are found in Uganda.

3. Lakes and rivers cover 26% of Uganda which is 91,136 mi² (241,038 km²) making her the 81stlargest country in the world by area. You could say Uganda and Oregon are roughly the same size.

4. The preservation of the umbilical cord and the jawbone among the Baganda and Banyoro ethnicities is similar to the customs of the ancient Egyptian kings.

5. Mountain Rwenzori (Margherita peak) is the 4th highest in Africa and reaches 5109m (16, 761ft). Interesting to note is it’s covered by snow throughout the year!

6. Uganda is among the top ten coffee growers/ producers in the world as well as Africa’s number one exporter of coffee.

7. Grasshoppers are an important and popular seasonal delicacy!

8. Lake Nalubaale (a.k.a Lake Victoria) found in Uganda is the source of the Nile and is the largest tropical lake in the world. The lake is also considered the second largest fresh water lake.

9. The British christened Uganda its name, which is a Swahili word meaning land of the Ganda. (1900 Buganda agreement.)

10. The Batwa, one of the endangered ethnicities, is believed to have lived for close to 60,000 years in the forests of southwest Uganda.

11. Uganda is UNESCO’s sole representative of Bark cloth. It used to be common in Indonesia, Africa, Asia and the pacific. Important to note is, Uganda’s one of the countries that have preserved the custom of bark cloth making.

12. The story of the Uganda martyrs and their shrine built at Namugongo is a fascinating one. Thousands of people from East and Central Africa flock the shrine on 3rd June every year to honour the martyrs.

13. Uganda is known as Africa’s premier birding destination. There are over 1000 bird species recorded in Uganda. It is even believed that some of the birds living in Uganda’s forests may not be classified as yet.

14. There are about 150,000 chimpazees in Africa and a third of them are found in Uganda. In fact a significant number chimpazees across Africa are found in only 4 countries.

15. The Nile perch is not indigenous to Lake Naluubale (a.k.a Lake Victoria)and was introduced into the lake round about the 1950’s.